The invention relates to a protective garment providing a barrier between a wearer and materials with which the wearer may come in contact.
Conventionally, workers in the meat-packing industry have worn a reusable cotton smock over their regular clothes, and then have donned a separate plastic apron to cover the front of the smock, and separate plastic sleeve covers slipped over the sleeves of the cotton smock to cover their arms. These items are worn to create a barrier between the worker and the meat with which the worker comes into contact. The cotton smock is laundered and sanitized and then packaged for reuse. To comply with applicable regulations, a given worker may require three or even more of such smocks in a single work shift because the regulations mandate donning a freshly sanitized smock after certain activities such as taking a coffee or lunch break. Thus, the laundering and sanitizing of the smocks entail a significant effort and expense.
Furthermore, there are increasingly stringent requirements for sanitation imposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and it has become increasingly difficult to meet those requirements with the cotton smocks, because of the difficulty of completely sanitizing the garments. Another disadvantage of the cotton smock is that it readily absorbs liquids. The combination of the cotton smock with plastic apron and sleeve covers also is relatively heavy and uncomfortable particularly in hot weather.
The present invention addresses the above needs by providing a protective garment that, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, can be made so inexpensively that it can be discarded after use, thereby obviating the problem associated with adequately sanitizing a reusable cotton smock. The garment provides essentially the same level of protection that the conventional cotton smock with plastic apron and sleeve covers provide, but is significantly lighter in weight.
The garment comprises a smock having a body portion and a pair of sleeves attached to the body portion. The body portion preferably wraps at least partially about the body and preferably is slit up the back and is fastened in back to secure it. The garment preferably also includes a fastening arrangement such as a neck loop that slips over the head to assist in holding the garment in place. The body portion and sleeves are made of a material that is porous so that it is breathable, and is preferably very light in weight. Synthetic non-woven fabrics are preferred as the porous material. Preferably the porous material does not absorb liquids to a substantial degree.
A portion of the outer side of the body portion of the garment is covered by a body outer layer for enhancing the liquid-imperviousness of the body portion and for preventing direct contact between the porous material of the body portion and objects that the wearer may rub up against during use. Thus, for instance, in a food-processing application and when the porous material of the body portion is a non-woven fibrous material, the body outer layer prevents fibers from the non-woven material from being abraded and shed onto the food with which the wearer is working. The body outer layer in preferred embodiments comprises a polymer film such as polyethylene or the like.
The body outer layer preferably does not cover the entire outer surface of the body portion, but preferably only the front part that overlies the front of the worker""s body. The body outer layer preferably is sized and positioned so that it covers the front of the body from about the shoulders down to just above the knees.
The sleeves of the garment are also covered by an outer layer for enhancing the liquid-imperviousness of the sleeves and for preventing direct contact between the porous material of the sleeves and objects that the wearer may rub up against during use. The sleeve outer layers may cover all or less than all of the surfaces of the sleeves. The sleeve outer layers preferably comprise a polymer film, such as polyethylene or the like.
The body and sleeve outer layers can be secured to the porous material of the garment in various ways. It is possible to adhere or otherwise affix the entire surface area of the outer layers to the underlying porous layer, such as by laminating the outer layers to the porous material. However, in preferred embodiments of the invention, the outer layers are attached to the porous material over less than the entire surface area therebetween. More particularly, the body outer layer covering the front of the body portion preferably is attached to the porous material only at edges of the body outer layer. The body outer layer can be attached at less than all of its edges (e.g., only along top and opposite side edges but not along the bottom edge), and can be attached along less than the full length of one or more of the edges (e.g., at spaced locations along the top and/or side and/or bottom edges). It is also possible to attach the body outer layer to the porous layer at discrete spots spaced over the surface of the body outer layer. Similarly, the outer layers covering the sleeves preferably are attached to the porous material over less than the entire surfaces of the outer layers, such as for example along the edges of the sleeve outer layers, along less than the full length of one or more edges, or even at discrete spots spaced over the surface of the sleeve outer layer. The attachment of the layers can be made in various ways, such as by stitching, gluing, thermal welding, ultrasonic welding, etc.
In another embodiment in accordance with the invention, the garment includes a protective skirt of polymer film extending down from the lower edge of the body portion to cover lower parts of the wearer""s body. The skirt preferably includes one or more lines of weakness extending horizontally across it to enable a lower portion of the skirt to be torn off for adjusting the vertical extent of the skirt.
The garment thus provides a barrier tending to prevent contact between a worker and items with which he or she may come in contact, such as food in the case of a worker in a food-processing plant. The outer layers perform two functions. First, they provide additional protection against liquids penetrating through the garment to the worker""s clothes or skin, beyond the protection that the inner porous layer provides. Second, the outer layers help prevent fibers, that are shed from the inner porous layer from being deposited on food or other items with which the worker comes in contact. Without the outer layer, the porous layer would tend to abrade when rubbed against objects, and fibers from the layer could contaminate the food or other items to which the worker is exposed.